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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sugar Plum Fairy Ballerina

I hope you are getting all your last minute preparations done! I'm taking it easy this year - I'm still having my folks over for dinner but I'm taking a few short cuts. I'm not making the loads of different cookies that I normally do, and we skipped lots of decorations. I have a torn rotator cuff and we are still in the middle of some major home repairs. I plan on a more laid back holiday without all the frills and having time to enjoy my company a little more.

I made this card for Mary, the owner of Serendipity Stamps. Her daughter has been performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker performing at some local elementary schools. Mary gets to help out behind the scenes and make sure the girls look picture perfect. What a great way to enjoy the Christmas season! I wanted to dress up the ballerina in the stamp to look like her daughter. Here's her photo - she looks like she was born to perform! I roughly drew the red layer of her dress onto the stamp and colored it with copic markers. To add a little more dimension I fussy cut the red layer that I colored and popped it up with adhesive tape. I also cut out the bitty crown and dipped it into gold glitter. Here's my finished card. I didn't want a busy background I wanted all the focus to be on the stamp so I used a neutral from Pink Paislee City Sidewalks - it reminds me of going into the city to see a performance.

I topped it all off with a gold metallic ribbon and a pretty paper rose. I hope your holiday is filled with beauty and magic!

Your card looks so much like the cute ballerina in the inspiration picture...Mary is going to love this and so is her daughter! I love how you drew that beautiful red of the skirt yourself and added the subtle shading of her skin. The bow adds to the elegance of a ballet theme and the background paper is so pretty with the red and gold.

Oh Jeanne you did a beautiful job with this card, Mary mentioned you were making her one. It's just beautiful the way you followed the dress pattern. Mary's daughter is beautiful! I'm so glad to hear you are taking it easy this Christmas, because of your arm . I have been so busy baking , cooking and cleaning . I should be able to enjoy the day .

Hi I'm Jeanne!

A Kept Life

When I left my full time career job my husband started calling me his "kept wife". The name of my blog is a play on that expression, because now I capture moments in photographs, and create in color in my "kept life". I hope you enjoy - thanks for stopping by!